Tensegrity systems are structures in which morphological and mechanical aspects are closely related by selfstress requirements. In the first part, this paper describes the birth of the idea which led to these systems. Snelson's work seems to be the main contribution for their initial design, even if Fuller created the word tensegrity and contributed with other searchers, like Emmerich to the popularization of these systems. The second part is devoted to form-finding methods which are necessary to reach a morphology compatible with mechanical requirements. References for main computation methods are given. Among them numerical methods like force density method could constitute an useful design tool.
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